HELSINKI, Finland — Miss Finland 2025 winner Sarah Dzafce has been stripped of her crown after a late-November photo of her pulling back the corners of her eyes spread online and drew accusations of anti-Asian racism. The backlash spilled into coalition politics when lawmakers repeated the gesture, prompting Prime Minister Petteri Orpo to issue apologies via Finnish embassies in Japan, South Korea and China, Dec. 20, 2025.
Miss Finland crown revoked after viral “slanted-eye” photo
The image — paired with a caption translated as “eating with a Chinese person” — ricocheted across social media and into mainstream news coverage, including reporting by The Associated Press. Dzafce won Miss Finland in September and had been slated to represent Finland at the 2025 Miss Universe pageant.
Dzafce has said she was reacting to a headache and that a friend shared the private photo and added the caption without her input. She issued a public apology, but the Miss Finland Organization later announced it was revoking her Miss Finland 2025 status.
In a statement, the organization said the episode caused “deep hurt” in Finland and abroad and added: “Racism is never acceptable in any form.” Dzafce did not respond to an AP request for comment.
At a press conference in Helsinki, the title was transferred to first runner-up Tara Lehtonen, according to the Helsinki Times.
Political backlash prompts apology to Japan and South Korea
The controversy widened after Finns Party MPs Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola, along with party European Parliament member Sebastian Tynkkynen, posted similar eye-pulling photos in what they described as support for the former Miss Finland.
Orpo condemned the posts and said they do not reflect Finland’s values of equality and inclusion. In a Dec. 17 Reuters report, he said the government takes racism seriously and is committed to combating discrimination, with the apology published in the languages of the affected countries.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Tokyo conveyed its concern and expectation for an “appropriate response” through diplomatic channels, and the Finns Party later said the solidarity photos “should not have been published” as it reprimanded two MPs, according to a separate Reuters account.
Finland’s flag carrier has also been caught up in the backlash. Finnair received a surge of complaints in Japan and warned the online anger was damaging its operations, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported.
Why the Miss Finland scandal feels familiar in Finland
While the Miss Finland incident began as a beauty-pageant controversy, it landed in a political environment already sensitized to debates over racism. In June 2023, a Finns Party minister resigned after revelations tied him to Nazi references, Reuters reported at the time.
Weeks later, Finland’s far-right finance minister faced scrutiny over past online comments containing racial slurs, according to a 2023 Guardian report.
By late summer of that year, Orpo’s coalition agreed to a broader anti-racism policy meant to steady the government, also reported by Reuters.
Now, with Miss Finland again at the center of a storm, officials are trying to contain diplomatic damage while critics in Finland and abroad argue the episode underscores how quickly online gestures can become international incidents — and how hard they can be to walk back.
